Email remains one of the most effective digital marketing channels for businesses today. But just because email is effective doesn’t mean it’s easy. Timing, frequency, subject lines, calls-to-action, design, content—all of these things can either drive customers to engage with your business or drive them to unsubscribe from your list.

While there’s no magic bullet for effective email campaigns, there are a number of ways you can optimize your efforts to improve performance. In this article, Copyblogger shares 5 ways you can use email to drive action:

Learn about customer behavior

Conduct client surveys

Reinforce emails with social media

Encourage customer engagement

Retarget emails based on activity

Why It Matters: The majority of small business owners collect customers’ emails and send them messages. The more you know about your clients’ preferences and activities, the more you’ll be able to optimize your campaigns to align with their interests. In time, you’ll see an increase in engagement and—if all goes as it should—an increase in business as well!

We all intuitively understand that mobile marketing is a big deal. When we look at ourselves or our friends, colleagues, and families, we see mobile technology taking center stage in almost every aspect of daily life.

Mobile search, push notifications, and email / text alerts, coupled with other tools such as click-to-call, GPS, and mobile apps, are leveling the playing field for local businesses, helping consumers discover nearby stores in real time.

Why It Matters: In the days of static media, local businesses had to vie against big corporations to secure prime marketing and advertising real estate. With the advent of mobile marketing, local businesses are freed from many of those disadvantages. Technology is making it easier for consumers to find businesses nearby that offer the products or services they want—regardless of the size of the business or the size of their marketing budget. Now, local businesses can get in the game at a reasonable cost and see a much greater return on their investment due to the personalization and relevancy that mobile technology offers.

Acquiring new customers for your business is only half the battle. Once you have them on board, you have to provide exceptional customer service—otherwise, they’re bound to jump ship to one of your competitors.

5 things you can do to deliver an exceptional customer experience include:

Let customers know you value them

Nurture your customer relationships

Upsell and cross-sell products & services

Engage customers instead of managing them

Provide a high-quality experience during every interaction

Why It Matters: Local consumers have more choices than ever when it comes to buying products and services. The more you can do to add to the customer’s experience—whether it’s being especially attentive during a service, throwing in a freebie or discount, recommending a complementary product, or sending an engaging email—the more likely they are to give you their loyalty.

About the Author

Ashley Taylor Anderson is a content developer and marketer who's spent her career knee-deep in the B2B technology space. In previous professional lives, she worked as a science textbook editor, media producer, and pastry chef.